Posts Tagged ‘Neil Aspinall’

Mal Evans worked as the Beatles’ road manager for many years and also appeared in minor roles on several of their records. He also discovered and produced Badfinger. Evans was working as a bouncer at the Cavern Club in Liverpool when, in 1963, Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, hired him to work with Neil Aspinall as the Beatles’ assistant road manager. Evans’ duties ranged from bodyguard to errand-runner for the band. During the Beatles’ later years, Evans helped out in the studio. He contributed an occasional lyric or two and even played on several records. It was Evans who was manning the alarm clock during the key moment of “A Day in the Life.” In 1968, Evans brought Badfinger to Apple Records and even though he almost no technical experience in the studio, produced several of Badfinger’s songs, including their hit, “No Matter What.” Evans moved to Los Angeles during the early ’70s after he and his wife separated. In December of 1976, his wife asked for a divorce and Evans reportedly fell into a noticeable depression. On January 5, 1976, a friend went to Evans’ apartment to check on him only to find him in an agitated and confused state and in possession of an air rifle. Police were called and demanded Evans put down what they thought was a regular rifle, but he refused. Mal Evans, age 40, was shot and killed by the officers who felt threatened by his actions. The shooting was ruled justifiable.

Neil Aspinall is best remembered as the Beatles’ road manager, personal assistant, and later, the head of their entertainment conglomerate, Apple Corps. A childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Aspinall was first brought on board to shuffle the band from show to show in a van. As his responsibilities grew, he became an integral part of the band’s overall marketing. For the package design of the Sgt. Pepper’s album for instance, it was Aspinall who went out and found the photographs of the famous people who adorn its cover. He also contributed musically to a handful of Beatles recordings. Aspinall can be heard playing harmonica on “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” playing an Indian lute on “Within You Without You,” and singing background on “Yellow Submarine.” Aspinall was also involved in many aspects of the Beatles well beyond their time together as a band. In the late 2000s, he oversaw the remastering of the band’s historic catalog re-release of 2009. Neil Aspinall was 66 when he died of lung cancer on March 24, 2008.